Unfortunately, "Lock'em up" has a distinctly Trumpian tinge (same as much of recent American politics).
I suspect that "consign them to the Hell that is investigation by the American system of justice" is closer to the reality of what Trump's courtiers will face, but it's not such a snappy saying.
You would have to be a dedicated public servant to want to go back to a workplace that treated you so shabbily. The drown it in the bathtub guy, forget his name, and Project 2025, he probably works for them, are traitors and need to be treated accordingly. When I worked on mansions in Weston Mass, the bathtub guy was living there. Never saw him but just knowing he was in the same town gave me the creeps. I'll have to look him up, on google I mean.
First off, Trump posts these days on his personally owned media - "Truth Social". Second, 'Freedom of speech' includes the freedom to lie, limited only for specific things such as declaring false things about a person or group to harm them. And yes, Trump should be sued on that, often, but courts are obscenely slow.
"VOA’s Mandarin Service is being overseen by Hui Jing, another USAGM employee whose previous gig was at the Epoch Times (a rabidly pro-Trump/anti-CCP outfit which is implicated in a massive money laundering scheme)...."
2019: Facebook has banned advertising from The Epoch Times, the Falun Gong-related publication and conservative news outlet, as the social network struggles to implement a consistent political advertising policy. Facebook issued the ban on Friday after NBC News published a report this week that said The Epoch Times had obscured its connection to recent Facebook ads promoting President Trump and conspiracy content.
2021: "As product managers, engineers, policy officials, and other executives began to dig into the data, they found that in the first quarter of this year, one of the most popular pages on the network was a page run by the Epoch Times, a right-wing anti-China publication that has promoted the violent QAnon conspiracy theories and misleading claims of voter fraud related to the 2020 election."
What could possibly have identified ET as a source of misinformation? The prior report, Facebook monitoring and accounting reports, and significant US government commentary at the time?
2025: The Epoch Times page is still up and available with all its blather on Facebook.
Is Epoch Times still advertising across Facebook? Yes. That is just about all you need to know about the integrity and credibility of information across the Metaverse.
Zuck sucks, as the world knows. In my dreams, the Tech Broliarchy is overthrown and the governance of their corporate entities reorganized to serve the public interest, instead of their bosses' overfilled pocket books.
Thanks for that excellent report, which escapes the new trump contaminated corporate media landscape. Everything trump touches dies, including America's voice to the world. As with the admin admin at large, they create nothing and destroy everything. Big Brother is alive and well in this trump inspired authoritarian hell.
Kari "Loser" Lake is one of the most heinous members of the deplorables cabal. She has her head so far up the Mad King's ass, it's nauseating. VOA was not created to be a platform for spewing this regime/junta's vomitus but apparently KLL doesn't give a F.
These monsters are turning the USA into Kim Jung Un's North Korea, Viktor Orban's Turkey, Putin's Russia just to name a few of the world's anti-democracy dictators.
Our only hope is that the midterms will be a major slap down to our homegrown dangerous authoritarian toddler. That is, unless the election is marred by federal troops being sent to states with governors who are Democrats to intimidate voters, they use other tactics to out and out cheat or that the Mad King will finally succeed in bringing about Armageddon.
Most excellently commented post, Steven Branch. You have achieved telepathic mind-meld with my own thinking (scary, isn't it) , which I'm sure comes form having seen a Star Trek episode or two.
I am not sure that will work. It appears that Trump ran a shadow government in parallel with Biden's, controlling the Republicans in Congress as well as the Supreme Court. What makes anyone think this wouldn't happen again if he lost, assuming we have fair elections which is a rather optimistic assumption? This was pretty obvious during the Biden Administration and Dems did NOTHING to stop it. I don't think this regime can end without the violence of a civil or world war and that is if the well funded, heavily armed authoritarian thugs lose. Sorry to sound negative.
You have every right to be pessimistic, Alexandra. I just hope that if Dems win the House (and maybe the Senate) in November, their success will be similar to what happened in the midterms in 2018 when they shellacked the MAGAts. Of course, it may take a change in top leadership, i.e., Schumer and Jeffries, to get this ball rolling.
Like you, I have often wondered if the regime will only be defeated by an armed conflict in the US. Alas, I fear that the "cure" would also kill the patient and our 250 year experiment in self-governance will be over. Whole lotta shit to ponder.
It is easier to destroy than to build. The point was to destroy the reputation of this 'free press' and thereby the reputation of the US around the world.
They tried to destroy it outright and when frustrated, they pivoted to making it overt propaganda, which listeners would of course notice and tune out.
You might think the motivation was just to say what Trump always wants said, that he is wonderful, great and the best thing in the whole world. But if that was the case, that would have been the effort from the beginning.
Trump has done everything he could 'get away with' to destroy the reputation of the US in the world. Picked fights with Canada, Greenland, Denmark, NATO, Every country (except Russia) with high tariffs, Ukraine, Iran, Venezuela, and now Iran again resulting in the blocking of much of the international trade... In fact, this time around, about the only country Trump seems to deal nicely with, makes choices in the favor of, is Russia who is currently invading Ukraine and having it's Oil trading sanctions lifted by Trump.
It would certainly seem absurd to think a US President, often said to be the most powerful person in the world, would deliberately side with Russia, except that is precisely his track record. In 2016, Trump famously asked for Russia's help, and the Mueller Report made clear Trump was aware of the help and used it, then obstructed the investigation of it. Trump has consistently parroted Putin's talking points. Russia state media commonly treats Trump like one of their (paid) advocates. And now we are learning Epstein was working a Blackmail business with his sex trafficking business catering to the rich and powerful, and that Russia / Putin was involved in that business (Not as a victim) and Trump was HEAVILY involved with Epstein.
Side note: Yes, Trump ASKED for the Russian help, after the Trump Tower meeting where the Russian help was offered, and the ask in return was made clear (to remove sanctions on Russia). Duh. Mueller was a Republican and was playing down Trump's complicity by focusing on the letter of the law and not making a strong case for a legal conviction.
Trump is a Russian asset. Either because Putin plays his ego so very well, or because Putin has solid blackmail on Trump, of raping young girls no doubt, or maybe just being the business partner in trafficking young girls to be raped by other rich people. Either one would be something Trump would do anything to prevent getting out.
Always have to wonder: Did Trump have Epstein killed? It did 'bury' the case for years, just before the time in court when Epstein would have been motivated to use his blackmail on Trump.
(Note to Self: I am dangerously close to becoming a Public Interest "Yuppie" to all the like-minded folks on this 'stack. Lord, forgive me for sounding like the late & unlamented Limbaugh for any resemblance to his "ditto-heads").
T…p and Lake are transparent about one thing: Using VOA as a mouthpiece for the politics and policies of the Executive Branch. Otherwise it’s another not-so-feeble attempt to hide all of the bad and “promote” all of the good as if it were an outlet for propaganda. That is clearly at odds with the law that established the agency and certainly the intent of its founders and staff.
Hey, David, I'm loving the ref to oldie Comix, but the Katzenjammers were actually funny (I know, because they appeared in "The Funnies" section of something called a "Newspaper" - oldspeak for getting intel a day or two after things happened)...but I digress.
The current crop of the Trumpian Krazy Klown Kar of inKompetence is filled with total losers and un-funny people (except in a very macabre way -- lookin' at you, Petey and Stevie!!). The best part of the day is whenever I hear of the latest embarassing Epic Fail from these people, for that signifies that the holes they are digging themselves into have just dropped another 20 feet. I would pay good money to drive the bulldozer that finally buries the SOBs.
You are absolutely right! But they were also constantly in calamities of their own making. Trump’s endless obscenities would also be car crash absurd if they didn’t result in real harm.
The hubris of it all. They think we are stupid. I hope they all land in the same prison. 😞
It's called "lock them up" Liz.
Unfortunately, "Lock'em up" has a distinctly Trumpian tinge (same as much of recent American politics).
I suspect that "consign them to the Hell that is investigation by the American system of justice" is closer to the reality of what Trump's courtiers will face, but it's not such a snappy saying.
Yes, I like that.
You would have to be a dedicated public servant to want to go back to a workplace that treated you so shabbily. The drown it in the bathtub guy, forget his name, and Project 2025, he probably works for them, are traitors and need to be treated accordingly. When I worked on mansions in Weston Mass, the bathtub guy was living there. Never saw him but just knowing he was in the same town gave me the creeps. I'll have to look him up, on google I mean.
Grover Norquist
That's the bathtub guy; maybe someone will give him a dose of his own "medicine" by drowning him in lawsuits.
“Getting the President’s message out” is code for propaganda by the Trump administration. Not even truth adjacent, it’s usually flat out lies.
Because the "President's message", is what Trump posts and says, which is nothing but lies.
I honestly can’t figure out why someone hasn’t been able to curtail his demented tweets. Foreign policy by Trump tweets is incredibly dangerous.
First off, Trump posts these days on his personally owned media - "Truth Social". Second, 'Freedom of speech' includes the freedom to lie, limited only for specific things such as declaring false things about a person or group to harm them. And yes, Trump should be sued on that, often, but courts are obscenely slow.
Well, there is an upside: we will ALWAYS know what he is "thinking" within 60 seconds of the thought bubble's appearance.
And we will ALWAYS know that it's a lie. 100%
Waiting for the courts to catch up with Trump’s lies?! Don’t hold your breath.
"VOA’s Mandarin Service is being overseen by Hui Jing, another USAGM employee whose previous gig was at the Epoch Times (a rabidly pro-Trump/anti-CCP outfit which is implicated in a massive money laundering scheme)...."
2019: Facebook has banned advertising from The Epoch Times, the Falun Gong-related publication and conservative news outlet, as the social network struggles to implement a consistent political advertising policy. Facebook issued the ban on Friday after NBC News published a report this week that said The Epoch Times had obscured its connection to recent Facebook ads promoting President Trump and conspiracy content.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/technology/facebook-ads-epoch-times.html
2021: "As product managers, engineers, policy officials, and other executives began to dig into the data, they found that in the first quarter of this year, one of the most popular pages on the network was a page run by the Epoch Times, a right-wing anti-China publication that has promoted the violent QAnon conspiracy theories and misleading claims of voter fraud related to the 2020 election."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/21/facebook-coronavirus-vaccine/
What could possibly have identified ET as a source of misinformation? The prior report, Facebook monitoring and accounting reports, and significant US government commentary at the time?
2025: The Epoch Times page is still up and available with all its blather on Facebook.
Is Epoch Times still advertising across Facebook? Yes. That is just about all you need to know about the integrity and credibility of information across the Metaverse.
Zuck sucks, as the world knows. In my dreams, the Tech Broliarchy is overthrown and the governance of their corporate entities reorganized to serve the public interest, instead of their bosses' overfilled pocket books.
Thanks for that excellent report, which escapes the new trump contaminated corporate media landscape. Everything trump touches dies, including America's voice to the world. As with the admin admin at large, they create nothing and destroy everything. Big Brother is alive and well in this trump inspired authoritarian hell.
Kari "Loser" Lake is one of the most heinous members of the deplorables cabal. She has her head so far up the Mad King's ass, it's nauseating. VOA was not created to be a platform for spewing this regime/junta's vomitus but apparently KLL doesn't give a F.
These monsters are turning the USA into Kim Jung Un's North Korea, Viktor Orban's Turkey, Putin's Russia just to name a few of the world's anti-democracy dictators.
Our only hope is that the midterms will be a major slap down to our homegrown dangerous authoritarian toddler. That is, unless the election is marred by federal troops being sent to states with governors who are Democrats to intimidate voters, they use other tactics to out and out cheat or that the Mad King will finally succeed in bringing about Armageddon.
Most excellently commented post, Steven Branch. You have achieved telepathic mind-meld with my own thinking (scary, isn't it) , which I'm sure comes form having seen a Star Trek episode or two.
I think it's called great minds thinking alike, n'est pas? Nice to know there is a fellow traveler out there. On les aura. We shall overcome.
I am not sure that will work. It appears that Trump ran a shadow government in parallel with Biden's, controlling the Republicans in Congress as well as the Supreme Court. What makes anyone think this wouldn't happen again if he lost, assuming we have fair elections which is a rather optimistic assumption? This was pretty obvious during the Biden Administration and Dems did NOTHING to stop it. I don't think this regime can end without the violence of a civil or world war and that is if the well funded, heavily armed authoritarian thugs lose. Sorry to sound negative.
You have every right to be pessimistic, Alexandra. I just hope that if Dems win the House (and maybe the Senate) in November, their success will be similar to what happened in the midterms in 2018 when they shellacked the MAGAts. Of course, it may take a change in top leadership, i.e., Schumer and Jeffries, to get this ball rolling.
Like you, I have often wondered if the regime will only be defeated by an armed conflict in the US. Alas, I fear that the "cure" would also kill the patient and our 250 year experiment in self-governance will be over. Whole lotta shit to ponder.
And again, you've done that mind-meld thing.
It is easier to destroy than to build. The point was to destroy the reputation of this 'free press' and thereby the reputation of the US around the world.
They tried to destroy it outright and when frustrated, they pivoted to making it overt propaganda, which listeners would of course notice and tune out.
You might think the motivation was just to say what Trump always wants said, that he is wonderful, great and the best thing in the whole world. But if that was the case, that would have been the effort from the beginning.
Trump has done everything he could 'get away with' to destroy the reputation of the US in the world. Picked fights with Canada, Greenland, Denmark, NATO, Every country (except Russia) with high tariffs, Ukraine, Iran, Venezuela, and now Iran again resulting in the blocking of much of the international trade... In fact, this time around, about the only country Trump seems to deal nicely with, makes choices in the favor of, is Russia who is currently invading Ukraine and having it's Oil trading sanctions lifted by Trump.
It would certainly seem absurd to think a US President, often said to be the most powerful person in the world, would deliberately side with Russia, except that is precisely his track record. In 2016, Trump famously asked for Russia's help, and the Mueller Report made clear Trump was aware of the help and used it, then obstructed the investigation of it. Trump has consistently parroted Putin's talking points. Russia state media commonly treats Trump like one of their (paid) advocates. And now we are learning Epstein was working a Blackmail business with his sex trafficking business catering to the rich and powerful, and that Russia / Putin was involved in that business (Not as a victim) and Trump was HEAVILY involved with Epstein.
Side note: Yes, Trump ASKED for the Russian help, after the Trump Tower meeting where the Russian help was offered, and the ask in return was made clear (to remove sanctions on Russia). Duh. Mueller was a Republican and was playing down Trump's complicity by focusing on the letter of the law and not making a strong case for a legal conviction.
Trump is a Russian asset. Either because Putin plays his ego so very well, or because Putin has solid blackmail on Trump, of raping young girls no doubt, or maybe just being the business partner in trafficking young girls to be raped by other rich people. Either one would be something Trump would do anything to prevent getting out.
Always have to wonder: Did Trump have Epstein killed? It did 'bury' the case for years, just before the time in court when Epstein would have been motivated to use his blackmail on Trump.
Yup, yup & yup.
(Note to Self: I am dangerously close to becoming a Public Interest "Yuppie" to all the like-minded folks on this 'stack. Lord, forgive me for sounding like the late & unlamented Limbaugh for any resemblance to his "ditto-heads").
At least iowa doesn’t have to worry about her future plans.
(She bought a townhome in the state last fall)
T…p and Lake are transparent about one thing: Using VOA as a mouthpiece for the politics and policies of the Executive Branch. Otherwise it’s another not-so-feeble attempt to hide all of the bad and “promote” all of the good as if it were an outlet for propaganda. That is clearly at odds with the law that established the agency and certainly the intent of its founders and staff.
When will she just go away?
Appreciate this background 🙏🙏
Heady days for the Katzenjammer Kidz
Hey, David, I'm loving the ref to oldie Comix, but the Katzenjammers were actually funny (I know, because they appeared in "The Funnies" section of something called a "Newspaper" - oldspeak for getting intel a day or two after things happened)...but I digress.
The current crop of the Trumpian Krazy Klown Kar of inKompetence is filled with total losers and un-funny people (except in a very macabre way -- lookin' at you, Petey and Stevie!!). The best part of the day is whenever I hear of the latest embarassing Epic Fail from these people, for that signifies that the holes they are digging themselves into have just dropped another 20 feet. I would pay good money to drive the bulldozer that finally buries the SOBs.
You are absolutely right! But they were also constantly in calamities of their own making. Trump’s endless obscenities would also be car crash absurd if they didn’t result in real harm.
Yup. Bang on, David J Sharp.